***
The stairs creak under my sneakers.
The air grows thicker with every step I take down. Bram’s coffee-and-leather weaves into Ash’s cedar and chocolate. Reed’s woodsmoke and musk laces the edges, making my lungs ache for a deep breath.
I reach the bottom of the stairs and the space opens up before me.
Bram stands across the kitchen island, his features much clearer in the morning light. He has thick brown hair touched with silver at the temples, a neatly trimmed beard, and a heavy, stubborn jawline that perfectly matches the rigid set of his shoulders.
Reed hovers by the coffee maker in a worn t-shirt and sweats. Ash leans against the counter near the window.
They look, and their pupils blow completely wide, eclipsing their irises until their eyes are nothing but black.
“Morning, beautiful,” Reed husks, his voice entirely too low for this hour.
Ash pushes off the counter, his gaze tracking a slow, heated path down my body and back up. “How did you sleep?”
The air practically hums. Heat blooms low in my stomach, a heavy throb that makes my body desperately want to perfume, to flood this room with my scent and see what they do about it.
No. Stop it.
I swallow hard, locking the biology down.
“Morning,” I manage to scrape out.
Bram clears his throat, the sound a low gravelly rub. “Morning. Did you... get the tray?”
“I did. Thank you.” I walk forward, stopping safely on the opposite side of the island.
Bram meets my eyes. His gaze is intense, but raw. He steps around the island.
“Luna,” he says, his voice dropping. “I want to apologize for last night. I was a brute. I had just finished my shift, I was stressed about the orchard, still am, but there is absolutely no excuse for what I did. I handcuffed you in the dark while you were...”
He shuts his eyes, his jaw working as he forces down a swallow. When he looks back, the brown of his eyes is raw.
“I am so sorry. No one is ever going to make you feel like a criminal, or threaten you on this property again. Never.”
“I—apology accepted,” I say, the weight of his words sinking into my chest.
He takes a breath, his shoulders dropping. “I didn’t even introduce myself properly last night. I’m Bram.”
He extends his hand across the space between us. It’s broad, calloused. I place my hand in his. “Luna.”
The second our palms touch, a jolt of heat shoots up my arm. I pull my hand back, my cheeks heating, and look toward Reed, who’s leaning against the coffee maker, a slow, lazy grin spreading across his face. “Well,” he murmurs, his green eyes glinting. “I’m personally quite satisfied of our introduction last night.”
A heavy flush rushes up my neck, my ears burning as the memory of wrapping my legs around his waist and burying my face in his neck hits me in a vivid flash.
“You can stay here if you still need a place,” Ash says from the window, taking a step closer. “As long as you want. For free. We—”
“I appreciate the offer,” I cut in, my nails biting into my sleeves. “But I can’t stay for free. And before we get into anything else, I need to explain something.”
They wait.
I lift my chin, forcing myself to hold their blown-out stares. “I just officially got out of a relationship. A toxic one. I am not looking to jump into anything. And while being scent matched means our biology aligns, it does not automatically mean our personalities do, or that our daily lives fit together.”
I drop my gaze, then force it back up. “I’m not ready to just assume those two things automatically go hand-in-hand.”
Ash’s expression drops entirely.
